


Songs For Everyday Adventures

by Measured



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Happy Ending, Post-Finale, Side Marshall/Lily, side Barney/Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6174091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured/pseuds/Measured
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I can't believe you cried over a card, Ted. It's like you're trying for a Sad Old Man bingo," Barney said.</p><p>"You say that like he didn't hit bingo twenty years ago, and kept trying every day of his life," Robin said.</p><p>Or, biscuit song renditions, embarrassing their children (and Barney and Robin) and all the stability and romance Ted wanted and waited for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Songs For Everyday Adventures

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/gifts).



> For Missy in ShipSwap round 3. They asked for fix-it fic. I went with [the alternate finale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHUs8J7x94) as opposed to that thing that was aired. However, this particular timeline doesn't include Ellie because I was fond of a joke that I would've had to remove to keep it.
> 
> The title comes from a Lullatone album.
> 
> Thanks to ChibiStarlyte for the beta.

_"Your mother's rendition of 'Memories' as performed by an English muffin is, to this day, the most hauntingly beautiful thing I've ever heard."_ -Ted Mosby

*

Wrapped up in robes and pajamas, their breakfast went at a languid pace, slipping into a lazy Sunday brunch.

She finished her biscuit serenade rendition of _Here Comes The Sun_. The splash of jelly at the edge made them look like a pair of ruby red lips. Ted gave her hearty applause. The kids weren't quite so enthused about the display now, especially as her serenade always, always finished with a kiss. 

She tasted jelly on his lips as she leaned down. Behind them, Penny huffed and rolled her eyes. "Mom, we're going to be late--"

"Practice was canceled today. That means you can listen to your father's stories _all_ day," she said.

She laughed at the gagging noises they made. They were at that difficult age, just to the part where their parents weren't heroes to be looked up to, or remotely cool. In just a few years they'd be through high school and off to college. Soon Penny would outgrow her pajamas, and there would be no more cat shirts, no more little girl wonder. 

It made her heart ache, just a little. 

So many years together, and he still kept up the poetry readings. He'd often bring back the best New York had to offer. He'd gone all over the city to find them, searching almost as hard as he'd searched for her.

And the stories. He always had so many of those to share. Over food, on the way to work, or at the dinner table.

"You know, I think this calls for a reading. I cannot set upon the hour, or the day--" Ted said.

 _"Daaaad!_ Not again!"

"Ted, Ted, listen to me."

There was always another seat set out, and a laptop opened with a skype window up. The whole group was separated by states and miles, but they were never very far away. There wasn't a single dinner or breakfast where at least one of his friends were cracking jokes and giving unwanted advice, as well for calls of laptop-fives. Barney's suit was impeccable as ever. 

"Can't we even have one day, Dad?" Penny said. 

"Ted, are you trying to ruin it for every man in the world? At this rate I'm going to have to punch something to feel manly again."

"See, Uncle Barney agrees with us!"

"What was that? Read your mother the entire collection of _Neruda_ followed by a best of e.e. cummings? I think that sounds like a _great_ idea," Ted said.

Tracy smiled, enigmatic, as she sat near to Ted. He rested his hand on her knee, just near an edge of faux fur. They called it her Noir Robe. The minute Ted had found it, he knew he had to come bring it back to her.

"Barney, remember that punching pillow I sent? You'll need it," Tracy said. She rested her hand over Ted's.

"You know what Shakespeare said: If music be the food of love, then play on," she said.

"Shakespeare? You are incredible," Ted said. 

Behind them was a chorus of gagging, the loudest from Barney.

*

Ted got at least fifty snapchats a day, simply of Barney posing in ever more expensive suits making high fives. He'd started to send back his own moments, which often got responses of Barney rolling his eyes with "Lame" across the screen.

Tracy had gotten used to explaining to everyone to not knock over that tablet or laptop, that it was normal to have his old friends, his dearest friends on video call for hours on end, even to just watch the Woodworthy Manor series finale together.

And when their friends couldn't make the major moments, that laptop was right there, bridging the distance.

With the small wrapped presents, and baked cake, it looked far more like a birthday party than Father's Day. She'd even put up a little hanging banner across the familiar kitchen. Tracy hugged him from behind, lingering a moment.

"Give him an extra hug for me," Lily said. She checked her watch. "We'll only be able to stay a while. We had to change our plans from going to Chuck-E Cheese's after he played Five Nights at Freddy's."

"They're _alive_ , Lily," Marshall said. 

"It was a _video game,_ Marshall," Lily said.

"I read the Cryptzoology Times, I don't trust them," Marshall said.

"We all picked out this one together," Tracy said, above the brewing discussion. Laser tag had been mentioned, so challenges were sure to be dolled out.

Ted's breath caught as he held up the card to the light. Laughter and boos came from the laptop Skype window where Barney and Robin were, practically drowning out the _awwws_ from Lily and Marshall.

"I can't believe you cried over a card, Ted. It's like you're trying for a Sad Old Man bingo," Barney said.

"You say that like he didn't hit bingo twenty years ago, and kept trying every day of his life," Robin said.

They high fived. In their suit and sundress, they looked out of place among the sweaters and sticky fingers of the small gathering. Like Prada-clad fairy godparents.

He held up the card. It had Darth Vader, with _Happy Father's Day_ on the front. 

"I never thought I'd have such cool kids, or such a great wife. It was such a long time, and--I'm here. I'm finally here."

Tracy rubbed at his back, his constant, his steadying force. When he looked at her, every heartbreak and lonely moment just fell away. Bad memories, dead leaves across the stoop. He didn't even have to tell her for her to know

But being as it was Ted, he always did.

*

She remembered when she'd had to put Penny and Luke in the cart, surrounded by cans and that night's spaghetti noodles. They'd been so tiny. Now they walked behind her, a little sulky. They were at that age when they were always sulking a little. Growing pains. She remembered those almost teenage years like walking a wire. She knew how difficult they could be. 

"More family time. This is as good an idea as family game night," Ted said.

Behind him, Luke rolled his eyes.

He held up the can of olives, and smiled. It almost matched the green of his cable-knit sweater.

"Did I ever tell you the olive story?" Ted said.

"Olive story? The one about the martinis?" Tracy said.

"No! There I was, touring an Italian olive farm while I was visiting Lily and Marshall, when Marshall pulls me aside, and tells me that I have to see this. He leads me to the catacombs--"

"Dad, can we _please_ go home this century?" Penny said. Her wavy brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her phone cover was the same pink of her shirt, with almost the same amount of sparkles on both.

"Now, now, he's just getting to the good part," Tracy said.

Penny snapped a picture, her frown contrasted with how utterly her parents were wrapped up in each other.

Overly Romantic Parents was trending before the day was over. 

*

The cans were put away, the plates were back in the dishwasher. The low rumble of it two rooms away was almost calming. She took a sip of her cinnamon apple tea. It was warm and crisp, like fall itself.

Ted lifted up the phone so she could see the new whole page of image macros. 

"I suppose we found our immortality after all," Tracy said.

Then again, immortality was in the stories told, and Ted would never run out of those.

A text came up from Marshall, with _Did you see? Just think, aliens are one day going to see this and go, relatable._ Attached was a picture with both Marshall and Lily giving him a double thumbs up.

It hadn't even been hours since the picture went viral, and Cool Awesome Parentless Couple was on the rise, with a sleek, stylish pair back to back. The first one said _No Kids? No problem!_ Barney and Robin were always seeking their own immortality, and they always had to have the last word, usually punctuated with a high five and a kiss.

Longtime Happily Married Couple joined it, with Marshall and Lily looking sassily at the camera. _Ten months? That's cute, try twenty years_ and another with _I have a list of the women I've slept with, my marriage certificate!_

Tracy chuckled as she scrolled through the long list of the new image macros. "I think they're trying to make Swarley happen again," Tracy said.

"They'll never beat _pulling it off_. That one trended on twitter for three whole hours," Ted said. 

"Of course," Tracy said. "Nothing beats the boots."

"Except you," he said.

"Maybe I could pull them off, too," she said. "With shoes like that, you don't even need to wear anything else." He leaned across the couch to kiss her. Two kids put an end to desperate trysts across the apartment. But that only made the flirting more intense, until even hand holding was a long, flirty promise of not just everything to come, but a reminder that this ember would never burn out.

*

Ted thought the world would end before Barney signed onto Facebook and liked all the many, many shots of his children. However, Ted underestimated the lengths Barney would go make fun of him, and to promo his own bit of immortality, even if he had to ironically get a Facebook page.

It only took a day before Barney's attempts to flood his feed with Cool Awesome Parentless Couple were defeated by Minion memes.

To be fair, Ted's retrospective on crocs and the infamous (and incredible) red cowboy boots helped that deletion along.

"It was for his own good. He never would've survived the Candy Crush notifications," Tracy said.

"Only the strong will survive in wine mom land," Ted said.

Ted posted another Overly Romantic Parents macro. It was no surprise that his legacy would be loving too much.

*

Her blue raincoat was just slightly damp from the rain. It'd been nicknamed famous (or infamous, by Barney, who wasn't much of Bob Dylan fan). She closed the yellow umbrella. It was almost surreal, like walking straight into the past.

"Pan it around, let me see," Robin said. Ted held the phone around, to show MacLaren’s in all its glory.

"We were in the area today, so Ted wanted to visit the old haunt," Tracy said.

"It hasn't changed much; it hasn't changed much at all," Marshall said.

What they didn't say: _Though we sure have_. 

But silence never lasted too long with them. Even in awkward moments, or old resurfaced heartbreaks.

"There's even that same old jukebox. Remember the time when Ted got drunk and beatboxed?" Lily said.

They laughed. "Remember the dance-off? Marshall up and demanded that Robin get on the floor with him, but his hips were hurt. I hear they're calling it Shakiraitis now, because--"

"Because of the truthfulness of the hips? You could even say, because _they don’t lie_?" Ted said.

Barney shook his head, but Tracy laughed. She chuckled at every dad joke, every bad quip, pun and overly complicated literary joke that only two people on the planet would get.

MacLaren’s remained like a still, beautiful moment kept in amber. In their case, it was amber beer-bottles and that immortal friendship that not even time and distance could tear apart.

Marshall's hair was beginning to thin (though Lily would swear he was just as handsome as the first day she met him).

Barney and Robin had their rough patches, but they always got back together. Through those first few years, Barney's blog had flourished with their jet set lifestyle. 

There was just a faint blue-gray tinge to Ted's hair. She dyed away the gray in hers, but he kept it, like her very own sexy distinguished gentleman of a husband. 

"Ted, you look like an elderly woman, Just for Men that shit--not that I would know from personal experience," Barney said.

"His body is just catching up with his hobbies," Robin said.

Ted held up his hand for a phone five, not just for old time's sake. He could appreciate a good burn, even more with age.

*

They walked out into the rain. Two under a yellow umbrella. The bar where he'd spent most of his twenties just behind him. Her face had changed through the years, the hint of age across them both. He took her hand in his. She was never very far away. Every day he woke up with warm comfort of knowing _I finally found her. I'm finally here._

"Did I ever tell you about how I met the most beautiful girl, right at the train station, and convinced her to marry me?"

She smiled, indulging him. She was always indulging a silly old fool, too pretentious as unwilling to let go, as all his friends reminded him.

"I could hear more about that wedding," she said.

"I'd marry you every day if I could," Ted said.

She laughed. "I don't think we can afford that."

They couldn't afford the carriage and castle dreams he'd planned, either. With every other woman, it'd been a rush to the altar, as if she'd slip away. But with Tracy, everything came easy. Certificate or not, she'd be right there.

"As Neruda said: But I love your feet, only because they walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters until they found me." 

He leaned down to kiss her. A cold trail of rain slicked off the yellow umbrella that had changed so many hands and down his back.

"You really should be filming this. Next time Penny and Luke or Barney start acting up, we could just play this. We wouldn't even need to ground them."

She laughed. "You just might be onto something there."

They walked out together back to their station, and their happy little life together. Back with her husband, the man who showed her happy endings really did exist.


End file.
